On Friday, Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson was named to Sweden’s Olympic team, a well-deserved accomplishment for the 34-year-old. As someone who covers the Maple Leafs, perhaps I took his season thus far for granted. Shortly after the announcement, CanucksArmy‘s David Quadrelli texted me with the following tweet attached: Ekman-Larsson’s 25 points would lead the Canucks in scoring this year. It stopped me in my tracks, and it’s certainly worth revisiting how his career carried on after the Canucks bought him out.

Vancouver evidently found the idea of paying Ekman-Larsson $7.26 million per season through 2026-27 to be untenable, and it has backfired. Ekman-Larsson immediately won a Stanley Cup with the Florida Panthers, providing excellent returns in a third-pairing role, where he posted his best offensive totals since the 2019-20 season. Florida controlled 53 percent of the expected goals via Natural Stat Trick when Ekman-Larsson was on the ice at 5-on-5 during his lone season in the Sunshine State, and he signed a four-year, $14-million contract with the Maple Leafs in July 2024. It’s one of the few deals that have unequivocally worked out for the Leafs during Brad Treliving’s tenure as general manager, and Ekman-Larsson has been Toronto’s best defenceman this season.

The idea of being the ‘best’ defenceman on the 2025-26 Maple Leafs is a bit of a misnomer, as they started the season as the NHL’s worst defensive team. Ekman-Larsson has been one of the few positive constants during an erratic first half of the season, where the Maple Leafs have missed Chris Tanev and Brandon Carlo for significant stretches due to injuries. Troy Stecher has been a God-send after being claimed off waivers in mid-November, and while Jake McCabe has been asked to play a shutdown role, Ekman-Larsson is playing in all situations, providing real offensive impact and physicality.

It’s the latter quality I’d like to highlight. Ekman-Larsson’s offensive pedigree isn’t a surprise to those who observed the first half of his career, where he often received down-ballot votes for the Norris Trophy. Playing on a Leafs team that often lacks toughness and gets pushed around in front of the net far more often than a Craig Berube-coached side would care to admit, Ekman-Larsson plays with a nasty streak. He throws well-timed hits, doesn’t back down from a challenge, sticks up for his teammates, and taps into his ‘dark side,’ as he told Nick Alberga on Leafs Morning Take in September.

“I feel like I’ve always had that kinda bite to my game, if you can call it that. I always like playing that way,” Ekman-Larsson said. “It’s not like I’m throwing people around and making the big hits, but I’m just trying to get in the way when I can and give my teammates some more room and some more time with the puck.  That’s part of the game too, right? And that’s something that I really enjoy: playing that way.  So I know I can play that way. Might not be the highlight hits, but I think I’m a pain to play against sometimes.”

Last year, the Maple Leafs asked Ekman-Larsson to operate as a No. 3 defenceman, and he often functioned like a true No. 4, with the 52nd-highest ice time in the NHL at 5-on-5 last season, ahead of Jake Sanderson and Owen Power as notable examples. This season, he’s been asked to play throughout the lineup, trailing only Jake McCabe for total ice time on the Leafs, while leading all defenceman in points. It hasn’t been perfect, of course: Ekman-Larsson’s 3.52 goals against per 60 at 5-on-5 is the 38th-worst total in the NHL among 700 players who have played 100 minutes or greater. You could argue rather easily that is the function of playing on a porous Leafs team, where Ekman-Larsson has been asked to bail his teammates out.

It feels crude to place Ekman-Larsson in this context, after making the Olympic team, but he may be the Leafs’ most realistic trade candidate as well. Toronto is almost certainly missing the playoffs for the first time in a decade, and needs to course correct by accruing some future assets. Ekman-Larsson could easily be viewed as a rental piece for a contender, where he could win a second Stanley Cup. If you put him in a third-pair role as the Panthers did, Ekman-Larsson will handily win minutes against bottom-six competition, and the Leafs could demand a first-round pick, if the Brandon Carlo compensation offers a rough precedent.

For a Canucks team that hasn’t been able to score, Ekman-Larsson’s buyout appears to be a bit puzzling. He’s provided real veteran leadership for the Maple Leafs, while playing in all situations and providing secondary offence from the blue line, while occasionally functioning as a power play quarterback. The fact that he’d lead the Canucks in scoring ought to give all parties some pause, especially when considering a risky buyout next time.